A Birthday Surprise in 乐BOX!
Do we deserve so much love? It's been two weeks since Ewan's birthday [and almost a month since Faye's]. Yet, we are still receiving surprise gifts at our doorstep for the children!
So the postman came and I signed off a brown box tied up with twine which had the label 乐Box on it. It was addressed to Yang Ewan. What is this? A media drop? *laughs out loud*
乐Box is the business of two blogging moms I came to be friends with after joining Singapore Mom Bloggers. They are Janice from The MishMashMess and Serene, mommy to Xavvy-licious. When they first launched their business, I told myself I had to check their mandarin-inspired craft boxes out but I still hadn't. The month of May had been hectic from party planning and I am still catching up on backdated tasks! It's June now and I'm recovering from post-party exhaustion. Seriously?
Now that 乐Box came, I had to [had to] check them out for real! We are so impressed with what Janice had put together for Ewan [and Faye since she is always part of his play]! It isn't a media drop but a birthday present! So really, there is no obligation to write this post but here's sharing what we received because I am so very proud of these two mompreneurs I call friends.
As they children dived into play, each choosing their favourite activity to try out, I cannot help but think about the effort Janice had put in for this personalised Trolls box!
Ewan, Faye and I screamed in unison when we opened the box! It was filled to the brim with Trolls activities. Doesn't matter it was in Chinese because the kids loved them all! I'm not kidding you. I had to beg them to pause the play for shower and afternoon nap because we have swimming lessons later this evening. We could play these games many times over and the best takeaway is that my children will probably know all these words [唱歌，拥抱，高兴，可爱，友谊，难过，紫，蓝，红，百，黄，粉，橙] by the end of the week!
I didn't know 乐Box puts together personalised craft kits ay?
There are six activities in the box:
ONE
BINGO
There are two sides to each card [two players - Ewan and Faye]. One side is pictorial and the other Chinese words. It comes with two good quality dice and two sets of square foams for each player.
The children haven't played Bingo before so I decided to demonstrate the game with the pictorial-faced cards first. I was the die-thrower and they were required to cover the picture on their cards [with the square foams] that correspond to the picture on the die. They picked that up rather quickly and we advanced to the word-faced cards.
I didn't think Faye will be able to recognise the complicated characters and match what she saw on the die to the card. Then I realised how clever Janice was at designing this Bingo game! She gave each Chinese word a different colour and Faye, my three year old, got the hang of the game almost immediately by "dotting" the right Chinese characters by way of colour!
厉害啦！
TWO
SHADOW-MATCHING
This activity plays only once. An easy shadow-matching activity where the kids were supposed to stick the right Trolls its corresponding shadow!
Matching pictures to shadows gives children the opportunity to notice the outline of a picture. This skill will be useful when he is learning to identify letters, numbers, and shapes. The ability to understand symbolic representation is a crucial prerequisite to learning and using language! Did you know these are important pre-reading skills? Interesting.
THREE
DRY ERASE FLASHCARDS
WHAT! You put only ONE marker with an erasing tip in the box and that got them both into a brawl! Which kid doesn't like markers? Ewan embarked on this activity first and started outlining all the Chinese words on the flashcards over and over again. Well, it makes no sense if I didn't read the words out loud to him as he wrote and so I kept reading like a spoilt recorder each time he wrote a word.
He loved it and wrote it really nicely. A very clever piece. I am certain he will know every single one of these words by the end of the week like I said earlier.
WHAT! You put only ONE marker with an erasing tip in the box and that got them both into a brawl! Which kid doesn't like markers? Ewan embarked on this activity first and started outlining all the Chinese words on the flashcards over and over again. Well, it makes no sense if I didn't read the words out loud to him as he wrote and so I kept reading like a spoilt recorder each time he wrote a word.
He loved it and wrote it really nicely. A very clever piece. I am certain he will know every single one of these words by the end of the week like I said earlier.
FOUR
LEARNING ABOUT COLOURS
Faye chose to play this first. All the trolls were carefully cut out [wah Janice, lots of work] and laminated in different colours with a little velcro stuck tightly onto its body. There are eight different colours with eight different Chinese characters that can be removed and attached back to its rightful troll.
This game teaches the children to recognise colours in Chinese! It is fun and I love the quality of it. After experiencing all four of these hand-crafted activities, I came to a conclusion that Janice and Serene's children are so very lucky that their moms are craftaholics. They make learning an entertainment! I want to be their kid too!
Faye chose to play this first. All the trolls were carefully cut out [wah Janice, lots of work] and laminated in different colours with a little velcro stuck tightly onto its body. There are eight different colours with eight different Chinese characters that can be removed and attached back to its rightful troll.
This game teaches the children to recognise colours in Chinese! It is fun and I love the quality of it. After experiencing all four of these hand-crafted activities, I came to a conclusion that Janice and Serene's children are so very lucky that their moms are craftaholics. They make learning an entertainment! I want to be their kid too!
FIVE
MOSAIC ART
This must be store-bought *heheh* Because it came in a pretty packaging that read DREAMWORKS. This is the most challenging of the lot I must say? There are two character cards with seven foam sticker sheets. The children are supposed to stick the correct colour to the numbers - pink to 10, blue to eleven, so on and so forth.
What is so challenging about this? Well, the square stickers are tiny! Their clumsy fingers couldn't handle it but what a great way to practice their fine motor skills.
No idea where she bought this from so you've got to ask her yourself at janicewong27(at)gmail(dot)com
This must be store-bought *heheh* Because it came in a pretty packaging that read DREAMWORKS. This is the most challenging of the lot I must say? There are two character cards with seven foam sticker sheets. The children are supposed to stick the correct colour to the numbers - pink to 10, blue to eleven, so on and so forth.
What is so challenging about this? Well, the square stickers are tiny! Their clumsy fingers couldn't handle it but what a great way to practice their fine motor skills.
No idea where she bought this from so you've got to ask her yourself at janicewong27(at)gmail(dot)com
FIVE
COLOUR COMB
*hahhahah* Store-bought again but really appreciate all the though that went into Ewan's Trolls 乐Box. This is a Comb-In Hair Highlight where you comb the colour in and wash it out for temporary colour fun!
Thanks Janice for choosing the colour GREEN because that is is favourite colour by the way. It became his favourite colour because Ninja Turtles are green *haha*
The instructions said, "Create highlights, strips of colours or invent your very own ombre. Clide the colour comb through the section pressing down gently. You control the colour - more pressure - more colour"
I wonder. We haven't tried this yet but I wonder. Because Asian hair are black. Will the colour be visible? We shall give it a try later when he wakes from afternoon nap!
Writing this surprise blog review [within two hours of opening it] is my deepest and most heartfelt appreciation for this box. I cannot thank you enough for always thinking of us. Really. What did I do to deserve so much love when the effort I put in for friendship had been so so so so small.
We cannot wait to go back playing with 乐Box later!
You girls might want to consider Subscription for ardent fans!
乐Box can be purchased through their instagram account. I hope you do up a website soon! I am one of those moms who prefer shopping off a site *big smiles*
*hahhahah* Store-bought again but really appreciate all the though that went into Ewan's Trolls 乐Box. This is a Comb-In Hair Highlight where you comb the colour in and wash it out for temporary colour fun!
Thanks Janice for choosing the colour GREEN because that is is favourite colour by the way. It became his favourite colour because Ninja Turtles are green *haha*
The instructions said, "Create highlights, strips of colours or invent your very own ombre. Clide the colour comb through the section pressing down gently. You control the colour - more pressure - more colour"
I wonder. We haven't tried this yet but I wonder. Because Asian hair are black. Will the colour be visible? We shall give it a try later when he wakes from afternoon nap!
Writing this surprise blog review [within two hours of opening it] is my deepest and most heartfelt appreciation for this box. I cannot thank you enough for always thinking of us. Really. What did I do to deserve so much love when the effort I put in for friendship had been so so so so small.
We cannot wait to go back playing with 乐Box later!
You girls might want to consider Subscription for ardent fans!
乐Box can be purchased through their instagram account. I hope you do up a website soon! I am one of those moms who prefer shopping off a site *big smiles*
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